Mercy
by Min Daae
Summary: Leland and Philip have a conversation just moments before the storm, and Jaenelle's mother comes to a realization at last. Rating for brief language. ONESHOT.


Something was going to happen.

The first day it had been hardly more than a subtle nagging in the back of one's mind, a mental itch that couldn't be scratched. The second day it had been like a knock at the door, a constant thump against the first barrier of one's mind. And today…early in the morning it had been an insistent banging, a flood of power that washed over and around her in a dizzying flood and yet somehow didn't touch her or anyone else; and now, just like that, it was gone. There was utter silence. Oh, the birds sang and the normal house activity continued, but in her mind – silence. Nothing. Except for a small, distant hum that she imagined she heard once or twice…but that was only her imagination, her imagination combined with that odd sense of foreboding.

Leland Angelline rose from the chair at her desk and paced a few steps anxiously as the night drew in around them, wondering about that strange, unnatural silence. The servants were hushed as well, a collective pall fallen on all of them, knowing that something was going to happen, something unimaginable, something _terrible. _

She wandered over to the closet and began going through her dresses, one by one, until she came to the one she remembered, that perhaps she had been looking for. The dress from so long ago when she had taken Daemon Sadi shopping and he had talked her into trying on this dress, and others…when Jaenelle was still Jaenelle and not – whatever she was now. Before she'd ever heard about the High Lord of Hell, before Chaliot had well and truly crumbled into Dorothea's greedy hands. Before there had been a Twilight Realm and a Queen of Ebon Askavi.

She shut the door of the closet firmly and moved away. Philip would be coming soon, and it would not do to dwell on these things, the maybes and might-have-beens and regrets. For there were regrets…regrets about Briarwood, especially. How could she not have seen? How could any of them have missed-!

She glanced at the clock as it intoned the hours. Eleven. The humming was louder, still just at the edge of hearing but not yet clear. The door opened and she sat up straighter, trying to drag herself away from that mesmerizing sound.

It was Philip, his eyes strangely unfocused and distracted. "Leland, are you all right?" he asked in a strange voice.

Leland stood up and went to him, trying to catch his gaze, but his eyes were truly somewhere else. "I'm fine," she said warily. "Why? What's wrong?" Perhaps it was that hum…perhaps with his darker Jewels it was even more intense.

"I don't know – just – something." He blinked and came back, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "It feels like I'm on the edge of a cliff, or something…like the whole world is on the edge of a cliff. It's too quiet."

"You're just edgy," Leland said firmly, putting her arms around him. "The visit to Kaeleer got to all of us…"

He stiffened in her embrace. "Do you ever wonder?" he asked suddenly.

"Wonder what?"

"If we were wrong. If Alexandra was wrong. If Jaenelle was – really was what they said she was."

"Dorothea said…"

"Dorothea's a liar." Philip snapped. "I'm asking _you, _Leland. I'm asking you what you think…if maybe we picked the wrong side."

"We didn't pick a side," Leland said fiercely. "This is family, Philip, this is our _home…_are you saying we should have listened to those – those – to Daemon Sadi and his bastard brother?"

"Maybe…"

Leland fell silent and stared at him. His eyes were distant again and she could feel him withdraw, even if he didn't pull away.

"Jaenelle-" She gritted her teeth and forced the words out. "Jaenelle was completely mad…you know that. That's why we had to send her to –"

"Briarwood," Philip hissed, "We _sent _her to that place. Because she was talking about unicorns and dragons. And you've heard the tales…about the beasts that live in Kaeleer…"

"She couldn't have gotten there!"

"But if she had…_if she had…_"

Leland wanted to put her hands over her ears to keep from hearing. But even if she denied it, it was only the echoing of the thoughts that had been circling her since Alexandra had died, stripped of her Jewels and utterly hopeless, watching the territory she had held for years crumble and succumb to the reaching talons of Hayll.

"If she had…we sent her there for that, and kept her there because of what she was saying about Robert and the other men, the other "doctors"…" He laughed mirthlessly.

"It's not true," Leland said desperately, clutching his arms. "It's not true…"

The humming was louder, closer. Philip looked over his shoulder. "What's that noise?"

"It's been doing that all day…haven't you heard it?"

"No…" He looked all around the room. "Mother Night, how is it not driving you crazy? Like a worm boring into my head…" He held his temples. Leland moved over to him, fearful now. Perhaps it was a spell, something targeting males, something targeting Philip. The humming was louder, more a buzzing, like a mad swarm of bees drawing ever nearer.

Her glass shattered.

One after another, the glasses all exploded as though suddenly filled to breaking with some force too great. Leland gathered her power and dove into the abyss, preparing to erect a shield, something to protect Philip and herself from whatever was attacking, whatever was –

The instant she reached the abyss, something drew her in, the edge of a ferocious vortex, pulling her down. She fought, wildly, screaming as it dragged her under into unfathomable depths. There was no way up, no way down, nothing but darkness and power deeper and darker than anything she had ever felt or imagined before, stripping mind from body and power from mind and tearing her apart in a wild maelstrom, a _spiral _of power-!

Where had she felt that before?

Once, only once, that single time in the Keep at Ebon Askavi, when she and Philip had been waiting while the Queen of that mysterious court spoke to Alexandra – when she came back broken, stripped of her power but not of her mind.

The Queen – the Queen of the Darkness – the Queen of Ebon Askavi – Witch –

_Jaenelle. _She reached out with her mind, aware that any minute, any second she would be less than a flicker in the Darkness, and she half imagined she felt a familiar touch, a familiar brush of a mind so very, very, vast and so very, very dark, that she had only found in one other place, one other person the one time she had dared to look at her daughter's mind…

There was no other way. Jaenelle! She screamed, trying to drown out the howling of the maelstrom. Jaenelle, help me! Please! She choked on a sob of desperation. Jaenelle, have mercy on me – have mercy, Jaenelle, daughter, please…

It was such a small thing, just a small brush, a small touch of recognition from that great power that swirled close to tear her to pieces, and then it was gone and Leland closed her eyes in despair, sure that now everything was over.

But she was not broken – she was not lost – she was safe, cradled in a cocoon of power while the storm swirled on around her, locked in place as the howls of the storm raged and cascaded and finally subsided around her and she surfaced from the abyss, gasping, into clean air again.

"Lady? Lady!" It was an unfamiliar voice. Leland forced her eyes open and blinked at the sunlight, stunned. She was lying on a strange, grassy hill she had never seen before in the full light of day, her dress tattered as though she'd been through a storm.

"Where's Philip?" She asked, looking everywhere. "Where's the house –"

"Lady, Mother Night just be glad you're alive…no one knows what's happened but half the aristos are gone and vanished into thin air…"

Leland sat up, her head spinning, and looked around. Empty. All grass, forever, except for a dim patch of wood on the horizon and a small village behind her, people milling about, frightened and confused. Leland sent a thought out on a Rose thread. Philip?

There was no answer…not even a flicker.

Leland buried her face in her hands, feeling the urge to cry.

"Lady?"

_I'm alive, _she told herself. _I'm alive, Jaenelle spared my life, Jaenelle didn't destroy me as she destroyed everyone else…I have my Jewels, my sanity, be grateful for that, be grateful, damn you_…

All she could feel was fear.

Her fist was clenched around something. She opened her fingers and pulled out a hard little scrap of paper and unfolded it. Something fell out, but she was busy reading the note, written in a language she couldn't decipher and translated at the bottom.

_For remembrance. As a reminder. _

She picked up the piece that had fallen, trying to understand what it was. A fragment of something spiraled and hard, made of something like ivory. She touched it gently with one finger.

"What is this?" She asked the man.

He stared at it, and suddenly her, as if she'd sprouted fangs. "Where'd you get that? It's forbidden to have any of that…it's unicorn's horn, a fragment of it anyway…if one of the kindred finds out you've got it you'll be dead for sure…"

"Unicorn's horn," Leland murmured, a sad smile touching her mouth. _For remembrance. As a reminder. _She stood up slowly. "Ah, Jaenelle…"

_Do you ever wonder if we were wrong? _

We were, dear, Leland thought, staring at nothing. We were so very, very wrong.


End file.
